Aussie banks most fined in the world

Finbold research shows that Australian banks are the second most fined banks in the world for 2020. United States banks paid the most fines of anywhere globally, with 12 fines against US banks totalling US$11.11 billion. The largest fines went to Goldman Sachs, fined $3.9 billion by Malaysian regulators over 1MDB scandal, and then hit with a $2 billion fine from local regulators for underwriting 1MDB bonds. Wells Fargo received a $3 billion fine after the bank was found to have set up millions of fake accounts.

Australian banks then slip in with three fines totalling US$981 million. Westpac takes the record for its AU$1.3 billion fine (US$910 million) after the AUSTRAC investigation found the bank had made breaches of anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism laws. While everything else looks paltry in comparison, National Australia Bank was fined $57.5 million in the fees for no service scandal, with another large fine of $15 million for credit law breaches.

Next in line is Israel, with a fine of US$902.5 million directed at Bank Hapoalim after it admitted to assisting American customers in tax evasion in illegal offshore accounts and money laundering for a soccer bribery scheme.

Swedish bank fines added up to US$539 million, with the largest going to Swedbank. US$425 million was the penalty for allegedly processing billions of Euros in transactions in Estonia for Russian non-residents with allegations that it didn’t stop money laundering.

China had seven banks fined, but the total amount was the lowest on the list - US$83 million.